1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to transactions, and more particularly to a method and system for deal structuring.
2. Description of the Background
The structuring of deals for customers has traditionally been a protracted and inefficient process. The customer might provide copious amounts of financial and potential collateral information to a salesperson, who would attempt to structure a deal from a commercial lender to the customer. This process would require the expenditure of large amounts of time on the part of both the customer and the salesperson.
The typical loan originating process, for example, commences when a potential borrower, i.e. a customer, first contacts a loan salesperson by telephone. The salesperson extracts the information required from the potential borrower to generate a provisional loan, without knowing whether the mortgage loan will meet a lender's underwriting policies. The salesperson may then request that confirmation information, such as income documentation, be presented.
The information, and all of the paperwork, is then routed to the lender's processing department, where additional documents, such as credit reports, might be requested and retrieved, either manually or automatically. Eventually, the documents are forwarded to an underwriter, who then determines whether the requested loan meets the lender's underwriting policies, and whether any further documentation is necessary, and may approve the loan.
If the loan does not meet the lender's underwriting policies, the underwriter and the salesperson may then negotiate changes to the terms of the loan necessary to meet these policies. After the underwriter and the salesperson agree on the changed terms, the salesperson and the potential borrower must negotiate with respect to the terms agreed on by the underwriter and the salesperson.
Any further amendments agreed to by the potential borrower and the salesperson might require further negotiations between the salesperson and the underwriter, and the loan origination process thus continues iteratively until all parties come to an agreement, all possible loan permutations are rejected, or the potential borrower abandons the process in frustration. If the parties reach an agreement, the process continues through the approval, closing, and servicing stages.